Description

Moist von Lipwig is a con artist...and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It's a tough decision. But he's got to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers' Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too...show more

Review quote

"'A satirist of enormous talent' THE TIMES." "'Pratchett's joy in his creations, in jokes, puns, the idea of letters and language itself, makes Going Postal one of the best expressions of his unstoppable flow of comic invention'" The Times "'With all the puns, strange names and quick-fire jokes about captive letters demanding to be delivered, it's easy to miss how cross with injustice Pratchett can be. This darkness and concrete morality sets his work apart from imitators of his English Absurd school of comic fantasy'" Guardian "Going Postal again does justice to the author's peculiar vision. The weirdness of Discworld is appropiately captured in a tale of love and redemption which blends satire, humour and drama" The Daily Telegraphshow more

About Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature. He died in March 2015.show more

Review Text

Pratchett satirizes the modern telecom business in a deeply satisfying comedy about a man sent to a fate worse than death: the post office. Fans of Pratchett's Discworld series will be happy he's returning to the city of Ankh-Morpork-after the Balkan War-esque madness of Monstrous Regiment (2003)-though it's not to the familiar environs of the Watch or Unseen University. This time, Moist Von Lipwig, a scam artist with a host of aliases, has just been hanged for his crimes-except that he hasn't, due to some trickery with the rope. It seems that the Duke wants a man everybody thinks is dead to take over the city's long-moribund post office. That's no easy task, what with only two employees left, both pretty much insane, puttering around the massive, dead-letter-stuffed edifice, not to mention the competition with the clacks towers. Pratchett follows Moist's attempts to resuscitate regular mail service as he goes up against the evil hegemony of corporate toadies running the clacks towers, a once-impressive series of semaphore towers that, when they work, can send a message hundreds of miles in no time at all, but at a hefty price. With the exception of a few heavy-handed statements about the public good versus private profit, Pratchett slides the satire in around the edges of the primary action: watching a career criminal transitioning rather quickly to earnest civic flunky, all under the watchful (glowing red) eyes of a monstrously powerful and patient government-employed golem. Although Moist seems a little too eager to leave his bad ways behind, it's almost shamefully enjoyable to watch him restore the mail routes, invent the idea of stamps, and go toe-to-toe with everything from rapacious businessmen to bloodthirsty banshees as he shows how to deliver letters over 40 years late. Sharp-edged humor-and wonderfully executed. (Kirkus Reviews)show more

Customer reviews

Buy this book. Then buy an extra copy, because when you lend it to your friends there is a good chance that you won't be getting it back. Going Postal is the book that made me fall truly, deeply in love with the laugh-out-loud humour and the writing style of Terry Pratchett. This book is for anyone who wants to take a short side-venture from reality to experience the hilarious struggles of Moist Von Lipwig, con-artiste supreme, as he struggles to return the defunct post-office to its former glory in order to keep his life. Then there are the issues of the not-quite above board competition, a chain-smoking activist, and that thing with the glowing eyes. It's good. Buy it.show more